Hello Jay,
I upgraded approx. 2 months ago and still have both the
Element Tungsten (with Michael Spallone modded MPCs) and Atmosphere L3 SC &
IC (XLR) in my Krell 450MCX/ KCT/Cary SACD Pro/ AAD 7001 setup...also upgrade
my digital cable from my music server to dac with SR Atmos L3 digital.
Will add that I started with SR Res Refs (with modded MPCs again by Michael)
years ago (the upgrade to E Tungsten was significant in all the usual
categories...in fact I acquired 2 pairs of Tungsten SC for my bi-wired
speakers/mono amp config...this config was recommended by SR and indeed sounded
more articulate to me). With L3 break-in now well completed, I must say I was
not similarly blown away by the Tungsten to L3 upgrade. SR opined that the L3
was more like the CTS and L4 closer to the top of the line Galileo series.
My experience; smoother, a bit more coherent/articulate, yes, but nothing
earth shattering....(imho Michael's mod also closed the gap between the 2 as
the modded MPCs definitely gives you a dead quiet background and cleaner window
into the music) Could it also be diminishing returns as I climb up the top of
cable pinnacle....who knows, I am still wondering if CTS and L4 would make that
much of a significant improvement... Currently have too many cables to now get
rid of before investigating further.
Worth the upgrade?...depends on your personal finance and what the leap ends up
costing you, but for me, pretty happy with the cabling configs at this stage...
will likely keep the L3s IC and SC (bi-wired) or L3 SC for top speaker poles
(ribbon tweeters) and Tungsten for the lower poles (woofer)….will look into the
SR grounding blocks in the future.
Would also suggest trying upgrading the Tungsten MPCs (look up Michael
Spallone's work and feedback...great guy who does a low cost, very effective
MPC upgrade). The later Enigma Tuning Circuits (Bullets) was also better
sounding in all areas with the Tungsten than the earlier version.
Hope that helps...happy hunting.
Colin